N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law § 19-0321: Permits to construct and operate certain municipally sponsored major facilities

§ 19-0321. Permits to construct and operate certain municipally

sponsored major facilities.

1. For the purposes of this section only:

a. "Major facility" means an air contamination source which directly

emits, or has the potential to emit, twenty-five tons per year of either

oxides of nitrogen or volatile organic compounds.

b. "Municipally sponsored facility" means a facility for which a city

with a population of one million or more or a political subdivision or

agency thereof was an applicant or co-applicant as of November

fifteenth, nineteen hundred ninety-two.

c. "Emission offset" means an emission reduction credit, as

established by the commissioner, required to be obtained from a severe

nonattainment area by an air contamination source prior to the issuance

of a permit to construct, at a ratio of 1.3 tons of reductions for each

ton of new emissions of oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic

compounds; provided that the emission offset requirement for oxides of

nitrogen may be met by oxides of nitrogen or an equivalent number of

tons of volatile organic compounds.

2. The provisions of this section shall apply only to permits to

construct and operate issued on or after November fifteenth, nineteen

hundred ninety-two for a municipally sponsored major facility located in

a city with a population of more than one million for which the permit

application was deemed complete by the department before November

fifteenth, nineteen hundred ninety-two.

3. No permit to construct shall be issued or shall be valid for a new

or modified major facility until after the applicant has obtained

emission offsets for such facility. For purposes of this section, in

addition to any other available emission offsets, emission reductions

from the following sources shall be eligible as emission offsets:

a. emission reductions that result from the closure or modification of

any solid waste incineration facilities within such city which were

operating in nineteen hundred ninety-one; and

b. emission reductions that result from the cessation of operation,

removal or sealing of any refuse burning equipment in such city pursuant

to any local law which took effect in nineteen hundred ninety-three.

Provided, that the commissioner shall have authority to establish the

amount of credit attributed to any emission reduction used to create an

emission offset to satisfy the requirements of this section.

4. Prior to the operation of a facility which as been issued a permit

to which subdivision three of this section applies, such city shall

conduct a base-line health study on a statistically representative

sample of residents within the areas most affected by the facility. No

later than one hundred eighty days after the commencement of operation

of such facility, the city shall, in conjunction with the department,

conduct stack tests of the facility and assess the health risks from

expose to such emissions; such stack tests shall be performed in

accordance with the department's rules and the results of such

assessment shall be delivered to the department within thirty days after

completion of the health risk assessment report for appropriate action.

After operation of such facility is commenced, such city shall implement

a follow-up health study that monitors on a regular basis the health

impacts from such facility with an emphasis on at-risk populations. Such

study and monitoring shall be conducted in consultation with an advisory

committee appointed by the commissioner of health which shall include

representatives of the parties to the permit proceeding for such

facility. Such study and monitoring shall be designed to avoid

duplication of efforts otherwise required by permit or by law.

5. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision two of this section,

any action deemed to have a significant impact on the environment

pursuant to article eight of this chapter, if such action involves a

municipally sponsored facility within a three-mile radius of a permitted

facility for which emission offsets were required pursuant to this

section, shall require an environmental impact statement which shall

include an analysis of the cumulative air impacts of such action in

conjunction with other actions involving facilities that have been

constructed or are planned within such three-mile radius.